The role of school identification and self-efficacy in school satisfaction among Norwegian high-school students

Ecological predictors of academic satisfaction in senior secondary school students in Hong Kong: The mediating role of academic confidence

Introduction

Although the secondary school curriculum reform has taken place for more than 1 decade in Hong Kong, very few studies have examined senior secondary school students’ academic satisfaction and its predictors at the individual and school levels. The present study examined the influence of academic stress, school support, positive youth development (PYD) attributes on academic satisfaction via the mediation of academic confidence among senior secondary school students using three-wave longitudinal data.

Methods

This study was derived from a 6-year longitudinal project examining youth development among Hong Kong adolescents. Only three waves of data collected from 2,023 students, including 959 boys (47.4%) and 1,040 girls (51.4%), from grade 10 to 12 (i.e., Waves 4–6), were used in the present study focusing on senior high school years. Students responded to a questionnaire concerning different aspects of their development, including their perceptions of school support, PYD attributes, academic stress, academic confidence, and satisfaction with the NSS curriculum. We conducted structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized model.

Results

Results showed that while Wave 4 academic stress negatively predicted academic satisfaction at Wave 6, Wave 4 positive youth development attributes and school support had positive associations with Wave 6 academic satisfaction; Wave 5 academic confidence also served as a mediator in these relationships, except for the relationship between school support and academic satisfaction.

Discussion

The theoretical, practical, and policy implications of the findings are discussed. The present study generally supports previous findings on the relationships between academic stress, school support, PYD attributes, academic confidence, and academic satisfaction. The findings emphasize the prominence of PYD attributes, school support, and confidence in enhancing students’ academic satisfaction.

Adolescent screen time: associations with school stress and school satisfaction across 38 countries

This study examined associations of watching television, electronic games, computer uses with school stress, and satisfaction among adolescents. Nationally representative data from 38 European and North American countries that participated in the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey were analysed. School stress and school satisfaction were each assessed using a 4-point self-reported item and then dichotomised. Participants reported discretional time spent on different screen-based activities. Of the 191,786 participants (age 13.6 [1.6] years; 51% girls), 35% reported high levels of school stress, while 30% reported high satisfaction with their school. Multilevel multivariable logistic regression modelling showed that adolescents reporting watching television > 4 h/day (≤ 1 h/day as reference) had 31% higher odds of school stress (OR 1.31; 95% CI: 1.27-1.35) and 36% less odds of school satisfaction (OR 0.64; 95% CI: 0.62-0.67). Prolonged electronic gaming (> 4 h/day) increased the odds of school stress by 26% (OR 1.26; 95% CI: 1.22-1.30) and decreased the odds of school satisfaction by 37% (OR 0.63; 95% CI: 0.61-0.65). Adolescents with prolonged computer use had 46% higher odds of school stress (OR 1.46; 95% CI: 1.42-1.50) and 39% lower odds of school satisfaction (OR 0.61; 95% CI: 0.59-0.63). Association estimates were more evident among younger adolescents than their older counterparts with no apparent gender differences.

CONCLUSION

Prolonged screen use, irrespective of type, was positively associated with school stress and inversely associated with school satisfaction with high computer use showing the highest adverse associations. Prospective research is needed to understand directionality and mechanisms of these relationships.

WHAT IS KNOWN

• Screen-based activities are adversely associated with various health and wellbeing indicators in adolescents.. • The relation between screen time and school-related outcomes is yet to understand fully.

WHAT IS NEW

• Prolonged screen time is associated with increased school stress and decreased school satisfaction in adolescents. • Computer use showed higher adverse associations than watching television or playing electronic games.

Peer Relatedness, School Satisfaction, and Life Satisfaction in Early Adolescence: A Non-recursive Model

Cumulative evidence suggests that, for children and adolescents, peer relatedness is an essential component of their overall sense of belonging, and correlates with subjective well-being and school-based well-being. However, it remains unclear what the underlying mechanism explaining these relationships is. Therefore, this study examines whether there is a reciprocal effect between school satisfaction and overall life satisfaction (Hypothesis 1), and whether the effect of peer relatedness on life satisfaction is mediated by school satisfaction (Hypothesis 2). A non-recursive model with instrumental variables was tested with econometric and structural equation modeling methodologies, using a cross-sectional sample of n = 5,619 Chilean early adolescents (49.2% girls), aged 10, 11, and 12 (46.13, 44.99, and 8.88% respectively). Results were highly consistent across methods and supported the hypotheses. First, the findings confirmed a significant reciprocal influence between school satisfaction and overall life satisfaction, with a greater impact from school to life satisfaction. Second, the effect of peer relatedness on overall life satisfaction was fully mediated by school satisfaction. The study further suggests the importance of considering reciprocal effects among domain-specific satisfaction and overall life satisfaction and illustrates the application of non-recursive models for this purpose.